The City & The City

Best of Mieville so far. The police procedural plot is predictable, but the concept of divided city is one of the best ideas I've ever read in sci-fi. Scale of Mieville's imagination is a bit scary sometimes.

The City and the City is the best kind of imaginative fiction. It has one central idea and it gives it enough room to properly explore.

The book follows Inspector Tyador Borlú of the Besźel extreme crime squad as he investigates a body that was dumped in the streets of his City. At its core this is a police procedural following Borlu as he goes about the investigation. But that is not why you want to read this book. This book is really about the setting, the city of Besźel and the city of Ul Qoma...

This is not to say the novel is not enjoyable at the level of a police procedural, it is, watching Borlú put together the case is a satisfying experience. It is just that the investigation of the setting is much more interesting territory than a murder investigation.

60 days later... fucking finally! I don't remember taking this long to read Perdido Street Station—but I don't know who to blame for it (me, probably; it's always my fault).

The City & The City is brilliant. China Miéville is brilliant. So brilliant, in fact, that I have no idea how to rate this book. I'm fairly tempted to give this a 4-star rating, but it would be unfair. It's not the novel's fault I took this long to read it. Five stars it is then, I think? Everything so neatly done, the writing is impeccable—it takes us exactly where it wants us to be, and it's amazing. As an aspiring author myself, China Miéville is both inspiring and terrifying.

Reading something from an author you have no idea about is always a gamble. And this author I found through a friend who read a different book that from reading to cover text seemed to be a bit too difficult to start off. So I searched and just bought this one and it was an amazing surprise.

Well written, very interesting story from the first page to the last. Not a pure detective story and not some pure fantasy stuff, but a really good mix of both that just hit right on the spot for me.

Highly recommended.

I think I understand why people initially find this book difficult to get into in the beginning. There is no preamble, no pages upon pages of world building to bring you up to speed on this strange new place. The rules are fuzzy at best and it quite literally drops you in the middle of the story. At first I was wondering what the heck I was reading, nothing made much sense at first, but if you persevere through that first plunge into the unknown it is more than worth your effort to stick it out. As I look back after finishing the book, I realize how refreshing it was to be just dropped into it like that. Yes you have a million questions and not everything makes sense at first, but that's kind of the point. You learn not by being told, but by your observations on what's going on as they slowly reveal how everything works. Although at its heart The City and The City is a murder mystery, there is so much more to it because of the uniqueness of the two cities relationship to each other. I really don't want to go into too much detail, as half the experience of this book is discovering its intricacies and strangeness and yet also being able to find parallels to our own world in it. I've only read one other China Mieville book, but this second helping has proved to me that he is an amazing author and a genius of the imagination. If you let it, The City and The City is a really wonderful read that will challenge how you think stories should be told and will make you appreciate those who push the boundaries once you've made it to the end. One of the most unique stories I have read in a really long time and well worth it if you're looking for something a little bit different.

My first Miéville, definitely not my last. Consider myself hooked. A mysterious setup that feels like scifi and fantasy but reveals itself to be complicated human psychology. Enforced perception and un-perception, superposition of spaces into one two three jurisdictions. Painting a familiar picture of opposing cultures, living side by side, yet not living with each other.

The fifth star is missing because the end of the crime-story felt like a bit of a let-down after all the build-up. When complicated details have to be communicated out loud as confessions at gun-point, it feels a bit forced. But everything else, amazing!

El primer libro que he leido de Mieville. La historia de estas dos cuidades, que habitan el mismo tiempo y espacio, pero que sus habitantes han sido condicionados a no reconocer a la otra y que derepente se ven conectadas por un asesinato, me tuvo fascinada por varios dias.

Me debo una segunda lectura de este libro para confirmar que, en efecto, la magia que experimente la primera vez, sigue ahi. Pero, mientras esa segunda lectura para refrescar memoria y para confirmar que en efecto, es una historia maravillosa, se lo recomiendo a cualquiera.

China Mieville is the author when it comes to cities. I've found some of his other works tedious going because he puts so much love and adoration into his settings that he can't help but nudge the plot out of the way to show you his cool setting. Luckily, when it comes to The City & The City, Mieville had a brilliant idea: the detective novel provides a perfect frame for him to show off his city without it fighting for attention with his plot. Because there's a mystery to investigate, the details of the setting become critical to the plot, and can be properly showcased. Inspector Borlu is perfect for the job of tour guide – the archetypal detective, he neither truly inhabits his life, but clinically examines his surroundings, and his arms-length remove from the city sets up the theme nicely.Of course, where The City & The City shines is in the titular cities and there are (at least) three: Beszel: a prototypical Eastern European Olde Country; Ul Qoma: nouveau riche and glitzy; the combined physical reality that contains both, transposed on top of each other, not to mention Orciny – the mythical third city that lies in the interstitial space. The idea is just so cool. And then the more I thought about it, the more I reflect on life, and that, my friends, is what makes a good book into a great book. The central conceit is this: Ul Qoma and Beszel occupy the same space. I at first thought that this requires science fiction or fantasy, but Mieville employs neither here. Instead, he simply invents a political system where Ul Qoma and Beszel refuse to notice each other, even when physically located in the same place. They speak different languages, follow different rules and have different cultures. This was a stretch for me at first – more of a stretch than imagining a magical system, to be honest. But then I started thinking of real-life split cities, like Jerusalem, where adjoining spaces belong to different governing bodies, speak different languages and in general refuse to acknowledge each other (even though in the book this exact example is brought up and belittled). And then I started thinking more generally and more close to home: I live in a neighborhood that walks the fine line between diversity and gentrification. Could it not be said that there are the neighbors, whether I know them or not, that I acknowledge more – that, because I see similarity in the way they dress, talk and hold themselves, I am more likely to make small talk? When I talk about buying a house, there are blocks – right next to highly desirable blocks – where I would never live, because of the style of the houses and the presumed personalities of the neighbors (and the imaginary line dividing real people from the loathed undergrads.) And then I reflect on the recent political events and it's hard to argue that the same laws apply to everyone in the city, even in one physical location. So I spent a lot of time thinking about what these imaginary-but-real divisions in my life are, and what to do about them, since there is no all-powerful Breach in real life.This ability to write a book that is intriguing prima facie, but that has used speculative fiction to explore deeper truths about real life is the exact reason that I read speculative fiction. The back of my copy of the City and The City compares it to Orwell and Kafka, but honestly, I think it transcends that and can only be compared to the true master: [a:Ursula K. Le Guin 874602 Ursula K. Le Guin https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1244291425p2/874602.jpg]. And to say it holds up well in the comparison is a compliment of the highest order.

Story: 6 / 10
Characters: 7
Setting: 10
Prose: 7

A brilliant setting that doesn't quite compensate for the mediocre story. In the end, the story is a simple murder mystery. However, the unusual spacial duality of the cities is so captivating that you can almost forget that this plot has been told too many times before.

Strange and mundane, swirled together but never quite mixed. I'm almost disappointed that the strange elements weren't just a little more magical... but then the city (and the city) wouldn't be just so unique.

I want another story with Borlu but I feel like following him any further would only serve to spoil the wonder.

The City & the City: A Review in Three Parts

Part I – CSI: Beszél
I picked up The City & the City because I've been trying to explore genres lately. Here was an author, highly spoken of, whose novel was part sci-fi, part fantasy. I had high hopes.

What I found when I opened The City & the City was a novel that was neither sci-fi or fantasy, but a completely different genre: the mystery; the whodunit; the one I avoid like no other. The City & the City is the story of a crime and the officers who solve it. It is bogged down by reports and interrogations, speculations and accusations; and if that's your sort of thing, you may enjoy this novel despite the fantastic elements. Personally, I didn't enjoy this first part. There was such a small sprinkling of anything but mystery that I wondered if I'd be able to make it through. Then a miraculous thing happened: the mystery took a back seat.

Part II – Murakami's 1984
The novel's mystery stepped aside and let the story's more paranormal elements run along side-by-side. It was one part Murakami with its dual cities in the same space, its portals from one “world” into the other; and it was one part Orwell, with its “unseeing” and Big Brother-like Breach. Now, if you've been following my reviews long, you probably know I despise 1984, but that has more to do with the fact Orwell didn't write it well than the story itself, so that's irrelevant in this case. Miéville can pull it off. He builds a world that is interesting and leaves me feeling paranoid. I loved this world. And though the focus was still the mystery, and this alienated me some, I was mostly drawn in.

Part III – Chaos
In the final third of the novel, The City & the City descends into madness. Chases, gunshots, secret agents, yelling, screaming, more accusations, more gunshots, more interrogations. It was too much action too fast for my little brain to process. Throw in the jumping between the cities, Beszél and Ul Qoma, and it was difficult to know what was going on. Perhaps if I'd acquainted myself with Miéville's writing style prior to this novel I would've been able to follow it more closely, but I found The City & the City to be confusing, especially in this final act.

Coda – Game Over, Play Again?
This was the wrong choice for me to start with. It's obvious Miéville has talent in storytelling and world-building, but this was simply too much mystery and action for me. It's one I'd recommend for fans of Miéville, and possibly for open-minded mystery readers, but for the rest of us, it's probably not a great place to start. Embassytown sounds more like my speed, and next time I want to make a journey into one of Miéville's worlds, I think this is the one I'll chose.

This book is phenomenal. It's basically perfect.

Miéville constructs the world of the two cities around one operative metaphor, one fantastic element – one that is utterly unbelievable, yet so deeply-ingrained in the fabric of the two cities that you begin to take it for granted yourself. He illustrates how the divide between the two cities plays itself out, in small ways and large, skillfully exploring the consequences and building up the reader's understanding, bit by bit. By the time Miéville's finished with you, you've internalized the taboo, almost as if you've in fact become an inhabitant of Besźel or Ul Qoma.

This is vital because the ending, the way it all plays out, only makes sense from within the metaphor, even as it illustrates the tenuousness of it all.

This is one of those books that will make you see the world differently, in a way that cannot be unseen.

This is a different kind of fantasy, a fantasy of dislocation and uncertainty, set in a near-contemporary time, in a place where two cities from different countries simultaneously occupy the same space (or do they?) and the events that bring the paradox into sharp relief and test the mettle of a police inspector and his ability to deal with the individuals who police the rule about not acknowledging one city while living in the other. Absolutely fascinating.

I had to read this one fast to get it back to the library on time, and that turned out great since the book is relatively fast-paced. It is a murder thriller complete with suspenseful detective work, good characters, and an incredibly unique city. Well, 2 cities with a very unusual existence.I read this book right after I read the author's Huge-nominated [b:Embassytown 9265453 Embassytown China Miéville http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1320470326s/9265453.jpg 14146240], and I liked this book a lot more. I also really like suspenseful murder mysteries with good characters and unique settings, so perhaps that explains why this one was much better than the other.The author is known for genre-bending crossovers, this book being a perfect example. It is written like a good thriller, only the cities do not exist in our current existence. But it reads as if the cities exist, with references to Microsoft, Wikipedia, and Myspace.This book is a solid 4-star read, just like most of the author's other books.

I'm still not entirely sure how I feel about this book. There was so much going on, and so much left to our own interpretation (not necessarily a bad thing) that even by the end of the book I felt like I was swimming in its own ideas.Definitely worth a read if you're a fan of [a:China Miéville 33918 China Miéville http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1243988363p2/33918.jpg], but I would more highly recommend [b:Perdido Street Station 2. Der Weber 71268 Perdido Street Station 2. Der Weber China Miéville http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1170757666s/71268.jpg 10823949] over [b:The City & The City 4703581 The City & The City China Miéville http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1266894982s/4703581.jpg 4767909].

This is a strange tale from one of my favorite authors. But it's a bit of a diversion from his previous books. Here he takes on a detective story but adds his own unique wrinkle to the story which is the setting. The title refers to the cities of Beszel and Ul Qoma which occupy the same geographical location. They are sort of interwoven together and the citizens of one city must ignore or unsee the citizens, buildings, et cetera of the other city. Detective Tyador Borlù of Beszel's Extreme Crime Squad begins what looks like a routine murder investigation. But his investigation leads him to follow up leads in Ul Qoma. It's such an odd concept. But it's fairly interesting. However, the story moves a bit slowly. Not a page-turner. I have (fittingly) mixed feelings about this one.